1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector for electrically connecting a flexible printed circuit to a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional electrical connector for connecting a flexible printed circuit to a printed circuit board comprises an insulative housing, an actuator pivotably mounted on the housing, and a plurality of first contacts and a number of second received in the housing. The actuator presses the flexible printed circuit connecting the first contacts and the second contacts with the printed circuit board
Referring to the FIG. 1-3, a conventional electrical connector 1′ comprises a rectangular housing 2′, a plurality of first contacts 3′ and a plurality of second contacts 4′ receiving in the housing 2′ and an actuator 5′ mounted on the housing 2′ for pressing the flexible printed circuit connecting with the first and second contacts 3′, 4′.
The rectangular housing 2′ comprises a base 20′ and a pair of engaging portion 21′ extending from two ends of the base 20′, a plurality of passageways 200′ disposed on a front end of the housing 2′ for receiving the first contacts 3′ and the second contacts 4′. The base 21′ defines an opening 201′ for receiving the flexible printed circuit therein.
The actuator 5′ is pivotally mounted on the housing 2′ and comprises a rectangular pressing portion 50′ and a protrusion 51′ with an envelope shape extending from two ends of the pressing portion 50′. The pressing portion 50′ defines a pressing surface 501′ for pressing a flexible circuit board to the first contact 3′ and the second contact 4′. The pressing surface 501′ defines a rib 502′ and a recess 503′ separately, wherein the recess 503′ defines a projection 504′ for contacting the first contact 3′.
The first contact 3′ comprises an engaging portion 30′, a first securing portion 31′ and a first contacting portion 32′ extending from an end of the engaging portion 30′ and parallel to the engaging portion 30′. The first securing portion 31′ engages interferential with the housing 2′ and the first contacting portion 32′ contacts with a flexible circuit board. The engaging portion 30′ further defines a concave 300′ for receiving the projection 504′ of the actuator 5′; hence the actuator 504′ can be rotated about the first contacts 3′ from an opening position to a horizontal position. In the opening position, the actuator 5′ do not press the first contacts 3′ and the second contacts 4′, however, in the horizontal position, the actuator 5′ presses the first contacts 3′ and the second contacts 4′ tightly. The second contact 4′ is h-shaped and is inserted into the passageways 211′ of the housing 2′ from an end opposite to the opening 201′. The second contact 4′ comprises a second securing portion 40′ and a second contacting portion 41′ extending from and parallel to the second securing portion 40′. The second securing portion 40′ engages interferentially in the housing 2′ and the second contacting portion 41′ contacts the flexible circuit board. The first contacts 3′ and the second contacts 4′ are welded on a chip module by the surface material technology, which are soldered to the chip module by the two electrical connectors 1′. The two electrical connectors 1′ are connected by a flexible circuit board.
However, the electrical connector 1′ described in the above lies in following drawbacks: the actuator 5′ in the electrical connector 1′ is connected with the first contacts 3′ by recess 300′ of the engaging portion 30′ with projection 504′ of the actuator 5′. So the actuator 5′ must define a plurality of concave 503′ corresponding to the number of the first contacts 3′, which leads to a complex structure thereof. In addition, a plurality of concaves 503′ must lead to a decreasing intensity of the whole actuator 5′. For engaging with actuator 5′, each first contact 3′ must define the engaging portion 30′ thereof for engaging with actuator 5′, thereby each first contact 3′ has a different shape with each second contact 4′. Due to the difference between the first contacts 3′ and the second contacts 4′, the high frequency of the first contact and the second contact is different from each other. By the aforementioned analysis, the electrical connector 1′ has a lot of place need to be improved.
Thereby, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.